


Sorry For Not Saying Goodbye

by fansbyproducts (sisaat)



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Angst, Carlos is still stuck in the desert, Character Death, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Night Vale Community Radio, POV Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-27
Updated: 2014-09-27
Packaged: 2018-02-19 00:36:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2367776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sisaat/pseuds/fansbyproducts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cecil's only comfort is that somewhere, far away, Carlos is happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sorry For Not Saying Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> When I first pitched the idea of this on tumblr, I was answered by an enthusiastic chorus of "No!", which sounds like ringing endorsement, so I wrote it.

“ _You're still on air.”_ The thought occupied Cecil’s thoughts completely. He was still on air. He had to say something. He couldn’t keep broadcasting silence. That was unprofessional.

 He didn’t think he could get back into his chair to finish his show. He didn’t think he could get very far from his current position on the ground. With difficulty, he lifted his head to assess the task at hand. He spotted the wire of his microphone dangling from the edge of his desk. If he could just grab it, he could tug the microphone off the desk and broadcast from his current location. That was a reasonable goal. Far more reasonable than trying to stand.

He raised his hand, stretched his fingers as far as they would go, but the wire was just a little out of reach. He refused to admit defeat. He’d just have to crawl across the floor to pull himself closer target. The ground was wet and slick beneath him and his hand slipped when he tried to drag his weight a few inches forward, but he managed to move just enough that his fingers caught the wire on his next swipe of his hand. He pulled and smiled in triumph when he heard the microphone clatter to down to the ground. He tugged it a little closer and set it up straight on its base.

“Listeners,” he said, or tried to. It came out as more of a wet gurgle. He cleared his throat, spit a glob of blood to the side and tried again. “Listeners. It seemed the danger has receded and calm has returned once more. Everything in Night Vale is quiet except for the wailing of those who survived not quite intact. I hope you, all of you, have been more lucky than us at the Night Vale Community Radio, where our losses today were… higher than usual. To the family and loved ones of intern Navjot, Danilo from sales, Janine the sound technician and… whoever else we lost today, our thoughts are with you. They will be missed.”

Cecil took a shaky breath in and rolled over to lie on his back in an attempt to find a position where he wouldn’t feel like he was dying. That would be easier if he  _wasn’t_ dying. Everything was getting blurry and he wasn’t sure how long he had left. While he still could, he might as well…

“To the family and loved ones of Cecil Palmer, those who are still in this world at least, I have the regret to announce that—“

A sound interrupted him. Cecil blinked and tried to understand what was happening. His thoughts were getting foggy. His cell phone. That sound was his cell phone. He fumbled with his pocket to pull it out, but it fell from his numb, blood-slick fingers. He blindly put it on speaker, something he had grown used to do lately as Carlos occasionally called at hours at which opening his eyes and holding the phone to his ear was simply too hard.

“Hello?”

“Cecil!” Carlos’ enthusiastic voice came to him and he smiled despite the pain. “I have just made the most fascinating scientific discovery since getting trapped in this strange otherworldly desert.”

Carlos sounded so happy. He could hang on to that thought. Carlos was happy. Excited about Science. It had been frustrating him, lately, how Carlos got excited about Science when Cecil just wanted him to look for a way back home, but he remembered now that his enthusiasm was why he had fallen in love with him in the first place. Right now he wanted nothing more than to listen to Carlos being happy and gushing about Science. Cecil closed his eyes. The world was spinning too much to see anyway.

“Tell me all about it.”

“Alright, so I was exploring an area with Doug, and Alicia, and their dog, and some of the other masked warrior, and…”

Cecil let Carlos’ voice wash over him even after he stopped being able to make out the words. It brought him some warmth in a world that was getting colder by the second. He hoped Carlos would forgive him for not saying goodbye.


End file.
